


Happy Birthday, Sloan Sabbith

by zizza24



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29299911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zizza24/pseuds/zizza24
Summary: Sloan worries about Don acting weird and Mackenzie is tired of her pacing in front of her office.Loosely based on a random prompt I found on Pinterest: "Oh my god, you're in love with him!"
Relationships: Don Keefer/Sloan Sabbith
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Happy Birthday, Sloan Sabbith

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely LOVE Don and Sloan and I wish we had gotten more content on the show between them. Obviously, I do not own any of these characters, but the ideas are mine!

“Sloan?” Mackenzie called from her desk. “Come in here, please.” 

Sloan had been pacing back and forth outside of Mac’s office for the last fifteen minutes. The entire newsroom was empty for Friday night, the staff heading to Hang Chew’s to kick off their weekend. It was just the two women: Mac getting some last-minute work done before a nice, hopefully quiet weekend at home with her husband, and Sloan doing whatever it was she was doing just on the other side of the door. She let out a deep breath before stepping into Mac’s office. She sat opposite her friend, the desk separating them, and sighed. “I’m sorry. I was being distracting, wasn’t I?” 

Mac leaned forward, her elbows rested against the desk. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on? Or am I supposed to guess?” She stared at Sloan with a raised eyebrow. 

Sloan shook her head. “No, I’m fine, I just. Okay, I promised myself I’d never be the girl who spent her Friday nights paranoid. I swore I wouldn’t do this! But here I am, wasting my Friday night away,” she exclaimed, arms flailing over her head. “I sound insane.” 

Mac let out a laugh. “A little bit, yeah. Is this about Don?” She studied Sloan’s face, trying to figure out exactly what was going through her head, but Sloan was hard to read. 

“He cancelled our plans for tonight, which by itself doesn’t seem that weird, but he’s been acting so strange the last two weeks and I don’t know what’s going on. He said he feels fine and things are going great, but I think maybe he’s hiding something from me.” Mac grinned at her. “What?” 

“You’re in love with him.” 

“No.” 

“Yes.”

“I am not in love with Don Keefer.” 

“Okay, except that you’re quite in love with Don Keefer.” 

Sloan stared at Mackenzie. “Sloan? It’s okay to be in love.” 

Sloan lowered her head. “It’s just that the last time I was in love, it didn’t really work out. I didn’t think falling in love again was meant for me. And then I believed I didn’t need to be in love to be happy.” 

Mac smiled again. “Sloan, you’re allowed to be happy and in love at the same time. You don’t have to choose one or the other.”

Sloan sat quietly, and she knew Mackenzie was right. She was in love with Don and had been for quite some time. It was just that the relationship they had was so fun and comfortable that she didn’t want to screw everything up. She was scared to step outside of the comfort zone and admit how she was feeling. But maybe that’s exactly what she needed to do. 

“Kenz, do you know where he is?” she asked Mackenzie while she started to send him a text. “I need to find him.” 

“Ah, would you believe me if I said he was walking through the newsroom with Will?” 

Sloan stood up and saw Don through the glass walls, making his way towards her. She met him outside the door, a few feet between them. They stood quietly together, the air soft and still. Will clapped Don on his back as he passed by, then gave Sloan’s shoulder a quick squeeze, before stepping into Mac’s office to give them privacy. Or at least as much as could be given with thin walls of glass. 

A few quiet minutes passed before either of them spoke. 

“You were with Will tonight?” Sloan broke the silence first, her voice calm and steady. 

Don nodded. “Yeah, I uh, I needed his help with something. I’m sorry I didn’t just say that. I wasn’t trying to hide- “

“I love you, Don Keefer.” 

She cut him off. She couldn’t wait another minute. “I love you and I think I’ve loved you since I realized you were the one who bought the book. Maybe before that, I don’t really know. I just know that I love you. And it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way about me, I just needed you to know.” Her voice trailed off near the end. She was scared. She was terrified. 

And then Don smiled at her. 

“Sloan Sabbith, I am completely in love with you,” he whispered. 

She smiled. “You are?” she whispered back. 

He laughed. “You think I learned economics just for the hell of it?” 

“I thought you learned economics because it’s important to everyday life.” 

“I wanted to impress you.” 

Sloan stepped forward. “I’ve always been impressed by you.” He raised an eyebrow curiously. “I swear to you. I even considered asking you out once, until I saw you with Maggie. But that’s a story for another time.” 

Don, still smiling, stepped even closer. “For the record, I’ve always been impressed by you too. And incredibly intimidated.” 

“I am pretty intimidating.” 

He cut her off with a kiss, catching her off guard just like she had to him so many months ago. When he pulled back, she had a strange look on her face, like him kissing her was confusing. “What’s wrong?”

“What was Will helping you with?” 

Don scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit. “Uh, I actually have a surprise for you tonight. I know you hate celebrating your birthday because no one should celebrate getting older, but I love birthdays. And as your boyfriend, I couldn’t let it pass by without spoiling you a little.” 

Sloan smiled. “My birthday isn’t until tomorrow.” 

Don checked his watch. “Technically, your birthday starts in seven minutes, so we should get going.” 

They both turned to wave goodbye to Mackenzie and Will and headed for the exit. Maybe Sloan was still scared that this whole thing could implode right before her eyes, but Don made her feel like it was all worth the risk. He made her feel happy and safe. And most of all, he made her feel so loved. They stepped onto the elevator together, and Don pushed the button for the main floor. He reached to hold onto her hand, bringing it to his lips to press a soft kiss against her skin. The elevator slowly crept down, finally reaching the ground level. When the doors opened, Sloan couldn’t help but think to herself that maybe birthdays weren’t so bad after all. They stepped outside, still hand in hand. The air was cool, and the city was still alive around them. She knew they had somewhere to be, but it seemed like neither of them were in a hurry to go. Sloan looked up at Don, who was peeking down at his watch, smiling. 

“Happy Birthday, Sloan Sabbith.”


End file.
